Page 31 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“It really is a shame,” Jill said with a heartfelt sigh as she picked up a cookie and made a show of breaking it in half and-

“Caleb,” the little boy said as his hand shot over and snatched half the cookie out of her hand. Before she could say anything else, he was snatching the other half out of her hand and handing it over to his sister as he mumbled, “Emma,” around a mouthful of cookie.

That was followed by a groan of appreciation as he quickly finished off the cookie and reached for another one. “And your brother’s name?” Jill asked, watching as the older boy leveled a look on his little brother that-

“Shane,” Caleb said with a firm nod that had a muscle in his older brother’s jaw clenching as he glared down at him.

Unable to help but smile, Jill said, “I believe that deserves a glass of chocolate milk,” as she grabbed two of the kiddie cups that she’d asked Logan’s men for and a large glass for Shane and placed them on the counter.

“Can I have a straw?” Caleb asked around another bite of cookie.

“You can have anything you want, Caleb,” Jill said with a warm smile as she grabbed the chocolate milk and-

“What did you do to piss off the other leech?” Shane asked as they watched the man that disappeared a week ago walk into the penthouse, looking incredibly pissed as his eyes locked on her.

“Many things,” Jill said, thinking about that moment when Logan pulled her into his arms as she watched his eyes turn silver before they shifted to the children and shifted back to green.

“Why don’t you join me in the living room?” Logan suggested, shifting the black backpack in his hand as he made his way into the living room and sat down on the edge of the oversized coffee table.

“Why?” Shane demanded, throwing a nervous glance at the front door.

“Because,” Logan said as he opened his backpack and pulled out two teddy bears and set them down on the couch, “I thought you’d like to see what I brought you.”

Jill watched as the two little ones sent the teddy bears a look of longing before sending their brother a pleading look only to have Shane shake his head. When Emma and Caleb shiftedcloser to their brother, Jill felt her heart break for them. Forcing a smile, Jill made her way into the living room and joined Logan. “I guess if you don’t want them…” Jill said with a sigh, letting her words trail off as she picked up one of the teddy bears that she had to admit was pretty adorable.

“And this one is for you,” Logan murmured, taking her by surprise as he pulled out a teddy bear even more adorable than the first two and held it out to her.

Jill reached for the adorable teddy bear only to have it snatched from her hand and-

“Caleb!” Shane bit out.

-felt her lips twitch as she watched Caleb hug the teddy bear tightly against his chest as he climbed onto the couch. That was followed by reaching over and grabbing one of the other teddy bears so that he could hug them both.

“What about Shane?” Caleb asked, pausing to give each teddy bear a kiss.

“I got something special for him, too,” Logan said, pulling a boxed iPad out of the bag as Emma climbed onto the couch next to her twin brother.

“What’s that?” Caleb asked, giving the teddy bear that Logan brought for her another kiss before handing it over to his sister.

“It’s a handheld computer,” Logan murmured as he placed it on the coffee table before reaching into his bag and pulled out two kid versions of an iPad and handed them to the twins.

“We have computers?” Caleb asked as he handed the pink box to Emma.

“Do you like it?” Logan asked, placing the bag on the floor.

“I love it,” Caleb whispered reverently as he ran his fingertips over the package.

“What about you?” Logan asked Emma.

“Emma doesn’t talk,” Caleb said as Emma wrapped her arm around her teddy bear while she worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

“That’s okay,” Logan said softly as he reached over and picked up the other teddy bear and placed it on Emma’s lap. “Do you think you can take care of them for me?”

After a slight hesitation, Emma nodded and-

“Can I have Shane’s iPad if he doesn’t want it?” Caleb asked, making their lips twitch.

That was followed by the teenage boy in question glaring down at his little brother as he joined them. When Logan went to hand the iPad to him, Shane hesitated before he took it. “Why are you giving us this stuff?” Shane asked, sending Logan a questioning look.

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